OAK RIDGE NORTH — In its first playoff game in almost a decade, the Montgomery girls basketball team had to hang on for dear life.

But the inexperienced Lady Bears were successful in doing just that, holding off a late charge by Kingwood Park to secure a 51-48 Region III-4A bi-district victory on Tuesday night at Oak Ridge High School.

Montgomery moves on to face Beaumont Central or Goose Creek Memorial in the area playoffs later this week while the Lady Panthers’ season ends in the first round after their fourth straight postseason appearance.

“It was a learning experience for us, but I couldn’t be more proud,” third-year Lady Bears coach Alicia Jordan said. “If you look at the way we played the first three quarters, we could not have played better. I’m going to focus on that and then believe that our heart and our perseverance carried us through the fourth quarter.”

After trailing by as many as 14 points early in the fourth, Kingwood Park scored 11 straight to pull within 48-45 with just more than two minutes remaining.

Freshman Malloree Schurr drained one of two free throws at the 1:35 mark to increase No. 19 state-ranked Montgomery’s lead to four, but Kingwood Park’s Katie Gowdy drained a 3-pointer on the next possession to cut the gap to 49-48 and set up a wild final minute and a half.

Montgomery (26-7) bled more than 30 seconds off the clock before Leslie Coupe found a seam in the defense and charged down the lane for a layup that pushed the lead to 51-48.

After a timeout by the Lady Panthers (17-16), Gowdy missed a layup and a putback attempt under heavy pressure. Coupe grabbed the rebound, but was tied up with the possession arrow favoring Kingwood Park.

Given another crack at trimming the deficit or tying the game with 17.4 seconds left, the Lady Panthers turned the ball over.

Coupe then missed the front end of a one-and-one and Kingwood Park secured the ball, calling timeout with 6.1 seconds remaining.

The Lady Panthers had the length of the floor to go to tie the game, but Jazmyn Johnson, who finished with a game-high 22 points, was well off on a desperation 3-pointer.

Montgomery led 48-34 when Johnson went off for nine of Kingwood Park’s points during its 11-0 run in the fourth. The Lady Bears had begun to milk the clock, but were called for two offensive fouls and turned the ball over three times in six possessions as the Lady Panthers converted five of their seven trips during that span into points.

“The five girls that were out there had been out there for 3½ quarters,” Jordan said of her players during Kingwood Park’s late run. “I took some chances, but I think that their legs might have gotten the better of them. So, we were more mistake prone.”

Up by five early in the third quarter, Montgomery reeled off 10 of the next 12 points to take a 38-25 lead midway through the period. Schurr scored after pulling down an offensive rebound, Devon Tunning nailed a 3 and converted a layin, and Coupe hit her second trey of the night during the run.

Tunning scored a team-high 19 points while Coupe had 14 and Schurr had 10. Jessica Hatchett added five for the Lady Bears while Bianca Mumphrey chipped in three points.

Neither team could muster much more offense by the end of the third quarter as the squads combined to shoot 10 of 41 in the period.

Montgomery shot 18 of 52 (34.6 percent) overall and 3 of 5 from long range while the Lady Panthers shot just 15 of 66 (22.7 percent) overall and 3 of 9 from beyond the arc.

“We don’t do well playing at a slower pace,” Jordan said. “We do better at a higher pace. So, when I do ask them to reign it in sometimes, it’s a little hard.”

Schurr’s free throw proved the winning point, though, and Coupe’s layup gave the Lady Bears the breathing room they needed to close out a postseason win in their first playoff showing since 2002.

“I think it will benefit us because now there’s really no situation we haven’t been in,” Jordan said.